Retractable guide post for overhead doors



y 1955 R. H. NEISEWANDER RETRACTABLE GUIDE POST FOR OVERHEAD DOORS Filed Feb. 7. 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Illlll! IIIIIIIIII! y 20, 1965 R. H. NEISEWANDER 3,195,615

RETRACTABLE GUIDE POST FOR OVERHEAD DOORS Filed Feb 7, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fi a /Mw ww ww United States Patent Ray This invention relates to a retractable guide post for sectional overhead doors and has particular utility in connection v 'lth airplane hangars, storage warehouses, and other structures in which a large undivided door open ng is essential or desirable in the use thereof.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a combination of overhead doors and retractable guide posts in which an undivided entrance opening of variable size may be achieved simply by raising the required number of doors and posts while leaving the rema ning doors and posts in lowered condition. Another object is to provide a retractable guide post especially suited for use in such a combination, and specifically, for use in combination with conventional roller-equipped sectional overhead doors.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a retractable guide post for overhead doors which rigidly supports the doors when they are lowered, thereby resisting changes in air pressure or other forces which might tend to bow the closed doors outwardly or inwardly. Another object is to provide a retractable guide post assembly which is compact in construction and which is fully confined within the space required for a conventional overhead door even when the guide post is retracted. Specifically, it is an object to provide guide posts which are retractable in such a way that the entire installation including the overhead door units requires no more space than a series of conventional overhead doors with ordinary non-retractable guide posts. A further object is to provide a retractable post construction which prevents the doors from being accidentally lowered when the posts are raised and in which retraction of the posts is prevented when the doors are lowered.

Other objects will appear from the specification and drawings in which:

Other objects will appear from the specification and drawings in which:

FEGURE l is a perspective view of a hangar equipped with the door and post construction of the present invention;

FEGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary and broken elevational view taken from the inside or" the hangar and showing a retractable post in fully lowered position;

FIGURE 3 is a still further enlarged vertical sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of the same scale as FIGURE 3 and taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

Ref rring to the drawings, the numeral it) generally designates an enclosure or building, such as an airport hangar, having a roof lit and side and back walls 12 and 13 respectively. The front wall i l of the building is provided with a horizontally elongated rectangular opening 15. The closure for this opening consists essentially of a plurality of sectional overhead doors A, a plurality of guide post assemblies B between the doors, and means C for raising and lowering the doors.

Each of the doors A is entirely conventional and comprises a plurality of horizontally-divided sections 16 which are hinged together and are equipped with side rollers adapted to ride in the tracks provided by the guide posts and by the horizontal supporting frame 17 within the enclosure. As shown in FIGURE 3, frame 17 is provided with a horizontal track which curves downwardly iiui filb Patented July 2U, 1%65 ice at its forward end and merges operatively with the upper end of a vertical track H provided by post B. Each door is connected in a conventional manner to cables 2h carried by drums it, the drums in turn being carried by horizontal shafts 22 journaled in support brackets a3 and 24. All of the support brackets are attached to mounting plates 2527 which are rigidly secured to the inside of the buildings front wall directly above door opening 15. The central support bracket 24 for each door operating assembly C is connected to helical springs 23 which have their opposite ends connected to shaft 22 and which are tensioned as the door is lowered and the shaft is rotated to counterbalance the weight of the door. Each door may be raised or lowered either by manual operation or, if desired, by mechanical means such as an electric motor (not shown}. Since the door construction and its operating mechanism are entirely conventional and are well known in the art, a more detailed description of such structure is believed unnecessary for the purpose of fully disclosing the present invention.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, it will be seen that the mounting plates 27 for adjacent doors are mounted in side-by-side relation and are provided with a pair of closely-spaced inwardly-projecting parallel flanges 2%. These flanges are welded or otherwise permanently secured to the opposite sides of horizontal track-supporting frame or beam 17 and project downwardly a substantial distance therebelow. At their lower ends, the flanges are also permanently secured to a short horizontal beam or support member which extends below the lower ends of the flanges and which is permanently connected at its inner end to the arcuate portions of two stationary tracks 13 for a pair of adjacent doors A.

Each guide post assembly B comprises a post 31 connected by a hinge assembly 32 to a support member 3t? As shown in the drawings, hinge assembly 32 consists essentially of a lower hinge arm 33 bolted to the posts upper end and an upper hinge arm 34 bolted to the support member Sl'l, the two arms or elements having their gudgeons pivotally connected by a hinge pin 35. Fin 35 extends horizontally with its axis oriented along a line passing through the door opening; that is, the pin extends normal to the plane of the doors when they are closed. Each retractable post is therefore swingable laterally in a plane parallel with the front wall 14 and through a portion of the entire opening 15 which accommodates one of the doors when that door is closed. Since the width of each door is greater than its height, and since the swing axis for each post 31 is above the upper limits of the door opening or openings, the posts may be retracted into horizontal and concealed positions behind front wall 1 5.

In PEGURES 3 and 4 will be seen that the lower hinge arm 33 is provided with an upstanding stop member or finger as which extends vertically and engages the side of upper hinge arm 36 when the retractable post is in fully lowered position. The integral stop member 36 thereby permits swinging movement of the post in only one lateral direction; in the illustration given, post 31 is capable of swinging only to the right from its vertical position when viewed as in FIGURE 4.

The post is shifted between its vertical lowered position, shown in solid lines in FIGURE 2, and its raised horizontal position, shown in broken lines in the same figure, by means of a cable 37 and winch In the illustration given, the winch is equipped with a chain 3h for manual operation but it will be understood that suitable power means, such as an electric motor, may be coupled with such a winch for power operation thereof. The cable is connected to the post 31 intermediate the upper and lower ends thereof and may extend over a guide '3. C? pulley 40 secured to intermediate mounting plate 26 by bracket L.

' 46 therefore serves as a stop element to prevent overswing or" the post as it is lowered into its vertical position.

Latch bar 42 is slidably carried by a C shaped mounting bracket 47 which is welded or otherwise secured to the rear surface of the post adjacent the lower end thereof. A spring 4% extends vertically between the arms of the bracket and bears downwardly against an enlargement 49 or" the latch bar disposed directly above the brackets lower arm, thereby urging the latch bar downwardly into 'the latching position shown in FIGURE 3.

Since each retractable post 31 is disposed between a pair of doors when such doors are lowered, and since latch bar 42 is received within the socket of the anchor plate 44 when the post is lowered, there is no danger of accidental retraction of the post, with attending damage to the doors, when such doors are closed. Furthermore, since each post when it is raised blocks the path of downward travel of a raised door and is disposed above the upper limits of the door opening, there is no danger that a raised door might inadvertently be lowered while its support post is in raised position.

. The posts 31, when raised, occupy space which is necessarily provided but which is normally unused in conventional overhead door installations and, therefore, the retractable post assembly of the present invention may be used wherever a series of overhead doors are desired without requiring any significant amount of additional space than would be required for the non-retractable posts of a conventional installation. As indicated in FIG- URE 1, one or more of the posts may be retracted to vary the size of the door opening according to need, the size of such an opening being a multiple of the opening size provided by the lifting of a single door.

While in the foregoing l have disclosed an embodiment of the invention in considerable detail for purposes of illustration, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many of these details may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1 claim:

1. In combination, a building structure having a door opening and having a pair of adjacent overhead doors for closing said opening, a retractable guide post assembly for guiding movement of said doors between horizontal raised and vertical lowered positions, said assembly com prising a support member connected to said building between said doors and above said opening, a substantially straight and rigid guide post having a pair of longitudinal tracks on opposite sides thereof for guiding said doors as the same are moved between lowered and raised positions, a hinge assembly connecting the upper end of said post to said support member and having a hinge axis normal to the vertical plane of said lowered doors for lateral and upward swinging movement of said post through said opening and into a raised position above said opening, said hinge assembly restraining said post from any movement other than lateral swinging movement along said plane and between raised and lowered posiprovided by anchor plate 44.

tions, means operatively associated with said post for limiting swinging movement of the same to only one direction laterally from a vertical lowered position thereof,-

and means connected to said post and to said building for swinging said post'into its raised position to provide a single undivided door opening when both of said doors and said post are raised.

2. In combination, a building structure having a door opening and having a pair of adiacent sectional overhead doors for closing said opening, said doors being movable between lowered vertical positions and raised positions and being equipped with laterally-projecting rollers, and a retractable guide post assembly for guiding movement of said doors between raised and lowered positions, said assembly comprising a support member connected to said building between said doors and above said opening, a substantially straight and rigid guide post having a pair of longitudinal tracks for receiving the rollers of said adjacent doors, a hinge assembly connecting the upper end of said post to said support member and having a hinge axis.

normal to the plane-of said closed doors for lateral and upward swinging movement of said post through said opening and into a raised position thereabove after said doors have been raised, said hinge assembly restraining said post from any movement other than lateral swinging movement along said plane and between raised and lowered positions, means operatively associated with said post for limiting swinging movement of the same to only one direction laterally from avertical lowered position thereof and means operatively associated with said post for swinging the same into its raised position to provide a single undivided door opening when both of said doors and said post are raised.

3. In a building structure having a door opening and a pair of adjacent overhead doors mounted for movement between lowered vertical positions closing said opening and raised positions revealing said opening, the combination of a support member adapted for connection to a building above a door opening and between a pair of overhead doors, a substantially straight and rigid guide post having a pair of longitudinal tracks on opposite sides thereof for guiding movement of a pair of overhead doors, a hinge assembly connecting the upper end of said post to said support member and having a horizontal hinge axis extending normal to a vertical plane passing through both of said tracks, said hinge assembly restraining said post from any movement other than lateral swinging movement along said plane and between a lowered vertical position and a raised substantially horizontal position, means 'operatively associated with said posttor limiting swinging movement of the same to only one direction laterally from a vertical lowered position thereof and means connected to said post for shifting the same between its lowered and raised positions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS r HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner. BENJAMIN BENDETT, CHARLES E. ocoNNELL,

Examiners. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A BUILDING STRUCTURE HAVING A DOOR OPENING AND HAVING A PAIR OF ADJACENT OVERHEAD DOORS FOR CLOSING SAID OPENING, A RETRACTABLE GUIDE POST ASSEMBLY FOR GUIDING MOVEMENT OF SAID DOORS BETWEEN HORIZONTAL RAISED AND VERTICAL LOWERED POSITIONS, SAID ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A SUPPORT MEMBER CONNECTED TO SAID BUILDING BETWEEN SAID DOORS AND ABOVE SAID OPENING, A SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT AND RIGID GUIDE POST HAVING A PAIR OF LONGITUDINAL TRACKS ON OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF FOR GUIDING SAID DOORS AS THE SAME AS MOVED BETWEEN LOWERED AND RAISED POSITIONS, A HINGE ASSEMBLY CONNECTING THE UPPER END OF SAID POST TO SAID SUPPORT MEMBER AND HAVING A HINGE AXIS NORMAL TO THE VERTICAL PLANE OF SAID LOWERED DOORS FOR LATERAL AND UPWARD SWINGING MOVEMENT OF SAID POST THROUGH SAID OPENING AND INTO A RAISED POSITION ABOVE SAID OPENING, SAID HINGE ASSEMBLY RESTRAINING SAID POST FROM ANY MOVEMENT OTHER THAN LATERAL SWINGING MOVEMENT ALONG SAID PLANE AND BETWEEN RAISED AND LOWERED POSITIONS, MEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID POST FOR LIMITING SWINGING MOVEMENT OF THE SAME TO ONLY ONE DIRECTION LATERALLY FROM A VERTICAL LOWERED POSITION THEREOF, AND MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID POST AND TO SAID BUILDING FOR SWINGING SAID POST INTO ITS RAISED OSITION TO PROVIDE A SINGLE UNDIVIDED DOOR OPENING WHEN BOTH OF SAID DOORS AND SAID ARE RAISED. 